Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrout

288 reviews

pinheiro_94's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Murder, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Grief, Death of parent

tinyarthoe's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark emotional funny sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

larareads's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous emotional medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Gaslighting

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse

Minor: Child death, Death of parent

wonderedpages's review against another edition

3.0

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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From Blood and Ash had so much promise: a fierce girl with a blade, a seductive, brooding immortal prince, and a dark fantasy world full of political intrigue and secrets. But what could have been a gripping, steamy epic instead got bogged down in repetitive inner monologues, a glacially paced first half, and a romance that asked me to suspend disbelief just a bit too much.

I’ll give Jennifer L. Armentrout this: the lore is dense and detailed. Vampiric castes, culty kingdoms, and magical bloodlines. I actually enjoyed unraveling the hierarchy of Atlantians, Ascended, Craven, and Wolven. The problem? It takes over 300 pages for the story to do anything with all that setup. I could’ve skipped straight to page 313 and missed nothing of importance except Poppy’s self-indulgent thoughts and a dozen lectures disguised as dialogue.

Poppy, our “Maiden,” was raised in isolation by a religious cult and spends the majority of the book

ping-ponging between being a sheltered, naive narrator and a total badass with a dagger.

The latter was great. The former? Painfully frustrating. I understood her confusion and repression, but wow, the girl’s curiosity rarely translated into actual intelligence. Still, I appreciated the subtle realism in how abuse, gaslighting, and captivity have shaped her. She’s learning, even if slowly.

Now let’s talk Hawke.

Or Casteel. Or “The Dark One.” Or Mr. Sex Scene Monologue. He’s a 200+ year old prince-turned-rogue who somehow falls for this cult-brainwashed teenager because she holds his hand a couple of times and says sassy things. Their chemistry was hot, I’ll admit. The sex scenes were the best part of the book; detailed, consensual, and actually sexy. Casteel talks her through pleasure, praises her fighting spirit, and treats her like an equal (once you ignore the kidnapping and marriage plans, minor details, right?). But the insta-love was a big eye-roll, especially considering his age, experience, and mission.

There were some solid twists, but I called most of them chapters before they happened.

Hawke being an Atlantian? Obvious. The Ascended lying about the gods? Called it. Poppy being half-Atlantian? I mean… come on.

If this had been a tighter, better-paced 250-page book, it could’ve really landed. But slogging through Poppy’s repetitive veil-wearing monologues and everyone avoiding direct answers wore me out.

I won’t be continuing the series,

though I’ll miss Hawke whispering filth in the snow and praising Poppy’s stabby side. A man who admires your violence and talks you through an orgasm? Unmatched.

But not enough to save the book for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

Moderate: Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, Murder, Sexual harassment

Minor: Cursing, Infidelity, Slavery, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Toxic friendship, War

hollisleaf's review against another edition

3.0

dark emotional medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Classism

bedwellbooks's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Very fresh and new perspective on fantasy creatures like vampires and werewolves! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

honeyndespair's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark emotional funny sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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I really loved this book. Was a little triggering for me is some more abusive/SA moments. And I will add that I put parental death in graphic because

a person considered to be "like the only  father they really knew" had a pretty upsetting death

. But I really enjoyed it and will definitely read the next one asap!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body shaming

Minor: Death of parent

tjdewald's review against another edition

1.5

dark slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: N/A

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Took me forever to finish this one. I wanted to like it but I didn’t. Probably won’t read the rest of the series. I almost DNF. 

<SPOILER> 

I can’t believe I’m supposed to like Cas or the spice when there’s no consent and definite coercion. He takes advantage of her every step of the way and then coerces her in the bedroom by lying about his identity and his intentions. Was icky from the start. Unfortunately, I will not be finding out if he has a redemption arc. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Gore, Rape, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail

amanda_reads89's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

rchulin1's review against another edition

4.5

emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

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Good but since this is the first book in the series it is a little slow

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism